by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

Before the Golden State Warriors fell to the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the playoffs and before they made the bold decision Tuesday to fire Mark Jackson, their then-coach had a habit of always saying the pressure was on the other team.

It was, as Clippers coach Doc Rivers joked at the time, his little way of keeping his team from getting tight while convincing the opponent - whether it made sense or not - that they should be filled with angst. Those were the little things that went a long ways when it came to Jackson's style, the nuances of the job that so often led to his team rallying in ways they may not have otherwise.

But now that the Warriors' brass has all but ignored the pleas of its players, not to mention the concerns of a fanbase that was just getting used to these playoff appearances, this might be a good time to try the trick that their departed leader was so fond of. The pressure is on them now.

Get the next hire right, and the Jackson chapter will be remembered as a segue to even more success. Maybe rookie-coach-to-be Steve Kerr can be the savior, perhaps bypassing his opportunity to take over the New York Knicks in order to take this talented team to the next level. Or it could be Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg, former Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni or any other of a number of candidates who are known to be interested.

Get it wrong - take a step backward and tick off a star in Stephen Curry, whose vocal support of Jackson was so strong - and fourth-year owner Joe Lacob will find himself getting booed again like he was in March 2012. As Lacob would likely point out, the lesson in that little tale is that the fans should have more confidence in him - he had traded beloved guard Monta Ellis for center Andrew Bogut, and everyone who deemed it a bad move was, in the end, proven wrong.

Ultimate judgments should still be reserved because the second half of the story has yet to unfold. Jackson's personality rubbed ownership and management the wrong way, and they grew tired of the silliness that took place on his coaching staff. Two assistant coaches, Brian Scalabrine and Darren Erman, were removed during the season as distrust from all corners spread. No one seemed to care anymore that Jackson had his players behind him or that he led the way in a surprising second round playoff appearance in 2013 or that the Warriors posted their best regular season record since the 1993-94 campaign while executing on Lacob's top priority of improving the team defensively (third in points allowed per possession).

Jackson went into bunker-mode mentality, taking the with-me-or-against-me approach that never works very well with the owners. Guys like Lacob see a direct correlation between the modern-day price they pay (he led a group that paid a then-league record $450 million) for teams and the level of their involvement, and that isn't necessarily even wrong. But it's this next move that will determine how the first one gets written in this once-woebegone franchise's history books.

The process begins in earnest on Wednesday, when the Warriors' decision makers will hold a roundtable and put together a lengthy list of candidates. It's never this simple, but the first line of the job description should read: "Able to win more than 51 games and reach the second round of the playoffs while pushing for a title." Anything less makes this the wrong move.